SUNDAY. SWORDS OF IRON WAR. Day 65.

10.12.2023 – THE 4th LIGHT OF CHANUKAH

Fourth Night

Artileries are sounding loud from the border again, now at 4 pm. I feel like we had a miracle today.

We went south, out of the city to our friends for a prayer time. Usually, we sit around for a bit and snack and catch up on our lives since we saw each other. Today, however, we felt a need to pray right away. We also called a friend in Europe to cover us in prayer during that time. It was longer than usual prayer time and much more intensified. Eventually, we finished, ate lunch and visited. Our friends drove us to the train and in Nahariya we took the bus home. The trains, both ways, were full of soldiers who looked tired and in need of a long break, right now they get between 1 hour to 1 day off.

In Israel, one speaks to everyone on public transportation, so we heard how the morning went on our North border. Apparently, rockets went into Shlomi which is sitting 11 km North East from us and is glued to the border. The Iron Dome diverted the rockets and there were no casualties. Shlomi was evacuated around a month ago. But in Nahariya the sounds of the rockets touching each other are very loud and rather frightening. Not being here to hear the meeting of the rockets yet knowing in the southern city that God wanted us to pray for the border for immediate protection, seems like a miracle to me.

Did you know that the Iron Dome was used for the first time in 2011? A family member told us at the time that it needs precision and quick decisions to operate well. He suggested that female soldiers might be better at these posts. A few years later, I met a mother of a female soldier who was posted with the iron dome, in another, shorter war. Today, I recall these conversations and check the internet.

“Unlike infantry or other combat units, our system does not require the lifting of heavy weights and stuff like that. So the challenges of being out there in the field are almost the same for both men and women... We see headlines in the media saying the Iron Dome system intercepted this and that – but it’s not the system. There are people behind the scenes, and they are doing the actual job...These are people who need to make the tough decisions. They constantly work to keep this country safe... as of today, some 55%-60% of the new recruits of the command are women”.

Praise God, for the people behind the technology and for the ones who created that Iron Dome protector. Thank you, God, for the wisdom you gave our people and for their love of nation and land. Thank You, God, for loving us.